Motorsport101

After 35 races and two years out of the winner's circle, Scott McLaughlin finally quenches his first with a race victory at IndyCar's season finale at the Grand Prix of Monterrey. 
Honestly, not much to even really get into on this one because McLaughlin completely dominated, leading 87 out of 95 race laps, and his main threat - The near impervious Alex Palou, was given a completely dud strategy from strategist Barry Wanser. Two used soft tyre stints? Really? Phew.
With it, Cam and Dre take the opportunity to review the minor stories to tie up at the end of the season. Kylke Kirkwood finishing second on the road in just his second road course podium to take second in the Championship ahead of Christian Lundgaard, Pato O'Ward and David Malukas. We also had Dennis Hauger hold onto the Rookie of the Year title after being slammed into the wall by Sting Ray Robb. 
And finally, a look at IndyCar's new controversial rule - An evaluation system to determine Indy NXT talent that's eligible for an IndyCar Series License. The timing with 11th place finisher in IndyNXT, Josh Pierson, rumoured to be bringing a large amount of money to the grid, can't be ignored...

We can't call Kimi Antonelli a smol Italian child anymore. The man just grew up way too goddamn quickly, my word. And with it, Kimi just became an F1 winner from the second furtherest back spot on the grid ever - P19! Only JOhn Watson has ever won a GP from further back, back in 1983!
But the ramifications of the win are being felt through the paddock. How must it feel for George Russell, who's now 66 points back with just 10 races (We think it may be nine), to go. Is there any hope left for a title push when you lose out in a race you started from pole, with your teammate in 19th? 
How about Ferrari, who started their race with Charles Leclerc running Lewis Hamilton off the road at the opening chicane, only for the Monaco man to lose control a lap later and spin into the outside fence of the parabolica. Again. We talk in depth on Leclerc as a driver in the Ferrari setup, and Lewis Hamilton's rather blatant attempts to push the team in his direction. 
There's also Alpine going mad after Pierre Gasly stole pole despite 66-1 odds to do it, McLaren fighting with each other again, and Max Verstappen once againg going ballistic to take a podium finish in third with Red Bull. And that's before we mention another potential calendar shrinkage, and previewing the Madring coming up this weekend. Enjoy!

This was a genuinely wild weekend, where Pato O'Ward won his 12th IndyCar race before he won his 11th, and at one point he was leading both Milwaukee races at once. Welcome to the mile, baby.
Dre, Cam and RJ review a ridiculous weekend in Milwaukee. We got 90 laps of Race 1 in, but due to a washout of rain, we couldn't get going again on the day, meaning we had a very unusual situation where Race 2 got underweay and completed, before we Race 1 restarted. Bizarre decision making, but with it, we got Pato winning both Milwaukee races after Will Power threw away Race 2 with a Pitlane speeding penalty and a David Malukas plenum fire. We break it all down.
And with it, we talk about Alex Palou winning his fifth IndyCar series title in the last six years. Just what a posisibe influence he is for the series, just how likeable he actually is, and ask whether he's on the way to becoming a GOAT of the series. Enjoy!

Marc Marquez taking 37 points after his eighth win at Aragon shouldn't be much of a headline if you know how the man operates. But how we got there was anything but straight forward.
Marco Bezzecchi had a major influence on the weekend with a surprise pole position and a pair of podiums for getting involved in the thick of the action. But the biggest surprise was Pedro Acosta, with a pass of the year candidate around of the outside of the final corner as Bez and Marquez banged shoulders at 195mph! We talk about that incredible sequence in what was probably the MotoGP highlight of the year.
The gang also talk about Trackhouse's disasterous weekend as AI Ogura got injured in a training accident, Raul Fernandez's gearbox exploded and all of a sudden push for a double title looks off the rails. Also discussed, Pecco Bagnaia's horror weekend, and more silly season news as Jack Miller is announced to be leaving Pramac Yamaha and heading to World Superbikes, Izan Guevara replacing him, and Luca Marini moving to KTM after being pushed out of Honda.

NOTE: We're left-leaning on this podcast, so if you're the sort of sicko that actually likes Donald Trump and willingly turns a blind eye to sportswashing, this episode might not be for you.
But we've been dreading this one to be honest. After seven months of prep and what our beloved Ryan Erik King called "Reverse Sportswashing", IndyCar pulled off the Freedom 250 from Washington D.C, and between us, we break down how we got here, just how much influence The Donald had on the weekend itself, and then of course, the race itself.
Kyle Kirkwood absolutely dominated the weekend, taking the lead from the front row and then leading 128 out of the massive 147 laps. This race took 160 minutes to get through, a slog by IndyCar standards. It was also a startling day for Alex Palou to have his worst weekend in IndyCar. A race ruined by driving over pit equipment, a pitstop error by his crew, losing a lap, and then hitting the inside wall and losing three more enroute to a P20 finish. Championship not quite under wraps just yet. 
And hey, we even had a Scott McLaughlin cameo, before he threw himself into the outside wall. It's something! All that and more on a weird, special, Motorsport101!